Volkswagen Rallye dos Sertoes leg eight summary

Sainz and Al-Attiyah: Volkswagen double-pack separated by three seconds
Wolfsburg (01 July 2009). Volkswagen's internal duel for the lead at the
Rallye dos Sertoes has become even more dramatic two days before the end of
the cross-country rally...

Sainz and Al-Attiyah: Volkswagen double-pack separated by three seconds

Wolfsburg (01 July 2009). Volkswagen's internal duel for the lead at the
Rallye dos Sertoes has become even more dramatic two days before the end of
the cross-country rally through Brazil. The factory pairing Carlos
Sainz/Lucas Cruz Senra (E/E) decided the eighth leg between Petrolina and
Juazeiro do Norte in its favour with a 1.37-minute advantage, relegating
Nasser Al-Attiyah/Timo Gottschalk (Q/D) in another Race Touareg to second
place on the stage. The gap between the two leading rally vehicles has now
shrunk to three seconds. The leg covering a total distance of 438 kilometres
featured winding roads with stony and sandy sections and demanded the
co-drivers' full concentration due to hidden directional changes. The
Brazilian duo Mauricio Neves/Eduardo Bampi finished the stage in third place
and thus completed the one-two-three exploit of the Volkswagen squad.

Kris Nissen (Volkswagen Motorsport Director)
"The 'Sertoes' has evolved into
an extremely thrilling duel between Nasser Al-Attiyah and Carlos Sainz.
Today Carlos Sainz benefited from the fact that Nasser Al-Attiyah had to
start in front of him and open the course. Tomorrow the situation will be
reversed. So, we'll have to wait until the end of the rally to see who will
decide this extremely demanding event in their favour. It's a matter of
seconds."

#301 - Carlos Sainz (E), 1st place leg / 2nd place overall
"Today it was clearly beneficial not having to be the first car to go out. I
followed Nasser Al-Attiyah's track. Even though that wasn't the best option
at all times I was able to make up the two minutes of starting difference,
but wasn't able to overtake in the dust. It was a very rough and difficult
leg. I'm happy to have won it."

#302 - Nasser Al-Attiyah (Q), 2nd place leg / 1st place overall
"A tough day for us in the cockpit. The track had lots of sand, some rocks
and loads of hidden branch-offs for my co-driver Timo Gottschalk that were
not always clearly marked in the roadbook. We had to turn around a few times
and that cost us some time. It'll be a close fight and a nail-biting duel
with Carlos Sainz up to the very end."

#309 - Mauricio Neves (BR), 3rd place leg / 7th place overall
"The leg today suited me very well and featured everything the Rallye dos
Sertoes is known for. It included a little bit of every type of terrain.
Navigation was very demanding too. Of course I'm very happy with third place
and a day without any mistakes."

Number of the day At the Rallye dos Sertoes the Volkswagen factory team is
carrying a sufficient supply of mosquito repellents and suntan lotion - 20
litres of each - for the total of 35 team members - from the motorsport
director to the mechanic.